Sunday, September 30, 2012

Define what Rich means by “compulsory heterosexuality” and
“lesbian existence” using specific evidence from the text.

Compulsory:
obligatory, mandatory, or required.

Heterosexual: straight;
the relationship between a male and female.

Compulsory heterosexuality as a dominant ideology indicates
that the relationship between a man and woman is essential and without it, we
would not be able to reproduce and grow. Compulsory heterosexuality assumes
that everyone is straight, that all women are attracted to men sexually and
financially, forcing those who do not identify as “straight”, to “hide in the
closet” and hide their true sexual orientation. Rich adds that in Nancy
Chodorow’s book she explains “This heterosexual preference and taboos on
homosexuality, in a addition to objective economic dependence on men, make the
option of primary sexual bonds with other women unlikely” (84)… That women will
turn to marriage as a “hoped-for protection” from some of the economic
disadvantages they face in comparison to men (87).

Rich says that although
heterosexuality is simply a choice, it is not seen like one because it is so compulsory,
chosen and developed for us with all the forces, in our culture. Rich
acknowledges that “constraints and sanction which historically have enforced or
ensured the coupling of women with men and obstructed or penalized women’s
coupling or allying in independent groups with other women”(84). He goes on to
explain that the “closing of archives and destruction of documents relating to
lesbian existence, idealization of heterosexual romance in art, literature, the
media, advertising”, male power, etc. are forms of heterosexual compulsions
that monitor the way people express their sexual orientation and with that tries
to erase the existence of lesbians (85).

Moreover, Rich goes to explain that
in The Mermaid and the Minotaur: Sexual
Arrangements and the Human Malaise, by Dorothy Dinnerstein, Dinnerstein
tries to state that “there is a mystical/biological heterosexual inclination, a
“preference” or “choice” which draws women toward men” (84). Rich says that “it
assumes that women who have chosen women have done so simply because men are
oppressive and emotionally unavailable, which fails to account for women who
continue to pursue relationship with oppressive and/or emotionally unsatisfying
men”, but Rich does not agree with that (84). I feel like this monitors
compulsory heterosexuality by giving an excuse for a lesbian’s sexual preference.
So to say that it is not a choice or a desire that they are with other women,
but because men have done them wrong so they have turned to women. When in
reality they were probably women who were lesbians forced to stay in the closet
by our cultures heterosexual compulsions. With that I leave you with these
quotes.

“Lesbian existence comprises both the breaking of a taboo
and the rejection of a compulsory way of life.” - RICH

“Feminism is the answer to compulsory heterosexuality and
used as a tool to break out” - CHRIS

Class Discussion:

In the beginning of the semester we learned that in the
first wave of feminism, feminists through out black women and now we read in
Adrienne Rich’s text that it throws out lesbians.

Compulsory
heterosexuality

(Compulsory means obligated so its saying that heterosexuality
is required)

- The idea that there is such thing as heterosexuality, that
it is required to function and to reproduce and progress. It is mandatory
because it is deep down in the roots

- It’s the assumption that all women are attracted to men
not just sexually but romantically, financially, economically, everything

- Lesbians are seen as “girl version” of men

- Men are always present as powerful

- Rich says that heterosexuality is merely a choice

- Heterosexuality is so compulsory in our culture that it is
almost not seen as a choice

- Rich says that in fact heterosexuality is not always
there, it could be something chosen or developed in us because of the forces of
the culture.

- Ex) Dr. Bogad’s son is only 8
months old and every one has already decided that he is going to be a ladies
man because of his long eyelashes. That is compulsory heterosexuality

-There are a lot of ways that heterosexuality is compulsory

-Media,
male power, literature

- The erasure of lesbian existence happened because of the
powerful source of compulsory heterosexuality. It is policed by society

- If you have a son and he wears a
pink bib, everyone will tell you to take it off

- Compulsory Heterosexuality is a form of dominant ideology.

- Pronoun use (he, she) is another way it is policied

Compulsory Heterosexuality is maintained:

Passive:

- Assumes everyone is straight

Active:

- People are forced to hide “in the closet”

- They are
silenced, made absent, and invisible

- Closets around sexual orientation are small, dark, and
have one door

- The closet is the result of compulsory heterosexuality

- Compulsory heterosexuality is a system that policies how
people express their sexual orientation so it forces people to hide in the
closet

- Feminism is the answer to compulsory heterosexuality and
used as a tool to break out

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Why/how is economic inequity a feminist issue?
As you think about issues of social class and economic injustice, why do you think that feminists would take these issues up? What makes money and class a "feminist issue?"

“Class can be harder to spot than racial or ethnic differences, yet in
many ways it's the most important predictor of what kind of financial and
educational opportunities someone will have in life.” -People Like Us

“At the CWCS, we see class as based on a combination of
factors -- what kind of work people do, how much they earn, their social and
economic power, their education, lifestyle, and culture. We also
recognize that class is closely related to race, gender, religion, and other
social categories.

Class shapes the lives of individuals as well as the
policies of our society. For individuals, class affects not only whether
you go to college, but also where you go and how well prepared you are to
succeed. It also shapes attitudes about work, community, and our expectations
for ourselves and our children.” -Center For Working-Class Studies

In the website titled, People
Like Us, a women named Roberta shares a story with us about how the issue
of class has affected her life personally. In the story she tells us about a
young man, named Ben, who she falls in love with. Roberta and her family
were considered to be in a higher class than he and his family were and she
explains in her story that the night Ben brought her home to meet his family,
they debated on whether or not he had become more “uppity like his girlfriend”.
Ben’s family began to think that he thought he was better than his family
because he was now with a girl whose family was in a higher class than they
were. Roberta’s story interested me because I have seen this within some
relationships, whether it is on television, in school, or at home within
conversations between my friends and or family members. I feel as though family
members will talk about a new friend you bring home to introduce to the family if
he/she is in a lower or higher class than they are because they feel less
comfortable not having that in common. If your friend is in a higher class, they
may think that your friend is too snobby or bratty to hang out with you. If your
friend is in a lower class, they may think that your friend is not good enough to
hang out with you.
I also went along to read a story about Charles, who also shares a
story with us about how the issue of class has affected his personal life.
Charles was a son of a “prominent surgeon” who was expected to attend medical
school like his father, two brothers and younger sister because he too was
intelligent, handsome, and attended private schools. As a sophomore at
Stanford University, Charles decided to drop out in order to live a different
life. Today he works as a house painter, living in a “double-wide trailer” with
his wife, who is in fact now a K-mart cashier, and his three children earning
no more than $25,000 a year. What is a little bothersome is that he then mentions
that his parents never went to go visit him. They obviously did not agree with
his life decisions, because he could have been living a wealthier life.
Although becoming a doctor could have brought a lot of money in for him and his
family, it was not sufficient enough in terms of what would make him feel
happy. He clearly chose his happiness over his earnings. His parents should
have not let their beliefs get in the way of visiting their child because just
as his parents had their standpoint on a career, Charles had his own as well. Charles
parents’ were living a much wealthier lifestyle than he was and while it did not
bother him, it clearly bothered his parents.
Economic inequality has to do with the difference in wealth
and in income between or within groups of people or individuals in a population.
Economic inequality is a feminist issue that would be taken on by feminists
because they are just simply people who believe in campaigning, advocating,
fighting, and pushing for women’s equal rights. Men and Women, a lot of the
time, do not get paid the same to perform the same task. That right there
itself raises an issue for feminists to fight for because for a company to
determine pay based on one’s gender is not an equal right. It is not ok for a
woman to get paid less because of her gender and it is not okay for a man to
get paid more based on his gender. Is it only fair to get paid more or less
based on things like the skills you are to perform while at work, how hard one works,
and time employed, for example.
As I went on to research more about gender based income, I
came across the National Committee on Pay Equity (NCPE), and learned that women
in 2011, went from earning 77.4 percent in 2010, to earning 77.0 percent of
what men were earning. In an article titled, Shortchanged: Why Women Get PaidLess Than Men, by Peter Coy and
Elizabeth Dwoskin, the authors state “in many workplaces, discussing pay is
frowned upon; in some, it’s a dismissible offense. So, like Ledbetter, women
often don’t know when they’re getting paid less than men. So they don’t
complain. So the problem continues.” Men and women do not go around comparing each
other’s incomes, so it is not easy to tell whether a company is paying them
more or less based on their gender, for doing the same job.